The ISF Academy. 弘立書院

imma

原帖由 almom 於 09-6-2 19:43 發表
http://forum.edu-kingdom.com/viewthread.php?tid=1684935

I agree that there are false information everywhere on the internet. And I would never just trust anyone.

Someone asked and "warrrren" confirm ...

The link that “almom” quoted was a trap. The original author of that link wrote up that headline (“ISF 未能符合IBO要求，最終放棄伸請MYP”) with the intent to spread a rumor, that ISFA has “failed” its application for MYP accreditation. "warrrren" apparently did not pay attention to it when he was replying. But if you read his message carefully, he never confirmed that ISFA had “failed”. Instead, he said and I quote: “IBO reckons that we should not prohibit the use of Cantonese in favour of two foreign languages….This matter has been the centre of discussions between IBO and the school for over 12 months.  I have no idea how the issue will be resolved at the end.” (posted in November 2008) This quotation confirms two things. First, "warrrren" had NOT said that ISFA had failed the application. Instead, the matter about the language policy was an issue raised by the IBO in the course of inspecting the school and the issue was being discussed between the school and the IBO administration. Secondly, his message confirmed the fact that the language policy was indeed the crux of the problem between ISFA and IBO, and given that "warrrren" is regarded as a trusted source of information, it effectively rebuts all the “opinions” expressed here that there must be some other untold stories about ISFA’s alleged “failure” to meet the requirement of IBO.

In my latest email exchange with the school administration, they confirmed that ISFA has not failed the MYP accreditation. They also told me that the language was once the crux of disagreement between them and IBO, but that issue is now largely resolved. They expect their MYP to be accredited in the coming academic year.

I fully understand why "warrrren" refuses to engage in discussions here anymore, given the quality of some of the opinions here. I thought twice before doing this myself. This is really just for the information of those who genuinely need it.

oooray

原帖由 thankful 於 09-6-3 14:37 發表
imma,

Don't think twice again if you think you could be of help!  There are parents who are genuinely and perhaps even desperately seeking information about various schools and other matters here.  I ...

Yes. Every piece of information will be useful and helpful for other parents to make a correct decision.

Cara2006

I am surprised that news about ISF is in fact provided by non-ISF parents. Almost all people that claimed to have "heard" that ISF failed the IB approval are NOT ISF parents. They seem to know SO MUCH! In particular, may be wisekid can let us know where he got the information and created the topic. Otherwise, we have all the rights to suspect that wisekid has purposely tried to spread all the rumors.
:;pppp: :;pppp:

nintendo

買定花生   等睇戲

daisy17772

原帖由 Pianokc 於 09-6-2 20:11 發表
..........And, with the increasing construction, and facilities, more money is needed, and therefore, higher tuition is expected. For the value one gets from the school, there are many schools that offers the same or more, but at about 30% less expensive than ISF per month

Agree.  Int'l school cost at similar price has got proven academic results.  For these newly estab. schools, one has to put their " faith" in them, but this is very neutral and personal decision.  However, we as parents should be very careful about the quality of the teachers, i.e. are we paying for the facilities or a team of high quality teachers (not just with high qualifications but with proven and experienced teaching experiences) ?  

My personal opinions only.

daisy17772

[ 本帖最後由 daisy17772 於 09-6-4 10:00 編輯 ]

Cara2006

Funny someone said that someone else confirmed what he said.
Why should I trust that someone else too?

Mr A said that ISF failed the authorisation.
Mr B said that ISF did not fail.
Both are people we have not met, and are both using web names.
Why should we trust Mr A and not Mr B?
Because what Mr A said is what you want to believe?

狄麗絲

Dear Betty

Nice to talk to u of ISF. We had parents interview last week after 2nd stage of assessements test. We also talked with their secondary students, we were deeply impressed of their self-discipine and polite response with fluent english + mandarin. As parents, this is what we want. Coz I am pretty headache of my child homework and workload in his local primary school. I dont know which Grade u willbe applied, for G7 they will be using 30% mandarin and 70% english. We like this school very much, but still waiting their confirmation and heard will have school fee increment for the coming year.

The other parents of Ceclia's kid is studying there and she is very very nice to give me some info. Hope I can tell u somethng more if I got their confirmation

hysterical

For interesting information about ISF, pls check out this link:

http://www.geokids.hk/forum/thread555.html

狄麗絲

Dear Betty

For me I think Mandarin and english are very essential for their future path. 尤其普通話好的話有助中文的文法同作文，起碼打好中文基礎再向英文進發. It sounds good that they will change to Man/Eng 30/70% ratio on G7.

原帖由 AAma_Betty 於 09-6-17 11:42 發表
Dear 狄麗絲,

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I am looking for G3 and G5 for my two girls in the coming academic year, as per ISF's website, they will use Madarin as their medium of teaching langua ...

646464

Dear 狄麗絲 and Betty,

I don't mean to let you down, but I need to share some of our first hand information with you both...

My kid is study in ISF right now. My feeling is you are paying quite a big amount of money to buy an excellent language environment for the kid to learn Oral language...Not a structural written one... Most of them can pick up beautiful ascent of speaking both English + Mandarin, but whether they are able to write equally good, I have a doubt about it...They do not have a structural method to teach the grammar, so their writing skill can be quite vary from one another, which is quite depended on their own background....

Quite a lot of good teachers are leaving (almost every years), and the best principle Ms. Shirley Lee is resigned due to her personal health problem (I really wish Shirley can overcome it... we really loved her, and she is one of the reason we still there...she is excellent!!).

I got the same impression when we got the school tour.... beautiful spoken language, innovative school works, positive feedback from student.

In fact the school got lots of excellent teachers, but quite a few of them being upset by the administration (policy change from time to time, poor communication between the teacher and the school, etc...), so they finally decided to leave... and the good teacher are getting less and less... maybe they will hire more good teachers with big money again...

Another big concern to me is the student over there.... sorry to say that quite a bit of them is quite spoiled (maybe just too many rich family are getting there...) , and they do not have the basic discipline in the school, so you will be quite surprise when you attending their assembly, and their school work can be quite a scene...

Their Chinese teaching team is relatively stable, but their English teaching team is changing a lot throughout these few years...

ISF can be a good school around 10 ~ 15 years later (if they have sharpen their direction of teaching after go through all the trial and error...), but whether your child can be benefit when you getting in now, you have to think about it carefully...

We do have a big hope few years ago, but to be honest with you, we are quite disappointed...

If you enjoy to have every birthday party to be in Aberdeen Mariner's Club (I don't know why, but it do happen like this...),  ISF for sure is your best choice...